Home Office & Study

Once tasked with delivering messages for the Rebel Alliance, R2-D2 has been reduced to holding up your butt as, literally, a piece of lawn furniture.

Spot Cool Stuff previously reviewed 10 creative pieces of jewelry geeks will love. If are thusly geek-inclined but looking for less of a personal accessory and more for something around-the-house, consider one of these five pieces of geek-friendly furniture. Each was inspired by a video game or a science fiction movie:

It seems nearly from the moment Mrs. Spot Cool Stuff was pregnant, we’ve been inundated with information about the merits of sitting on an exercise ball. The list of benefits (more on them below) are most pronounced for expectant moms. But they most certainly are not exclusive to them. Whether you are pregnant or not, whether they were women or not, sitting on an exercise ball really does promote health and posture.

The problem is that, as a piece of furniture, an exercise ball is, technically speaking, butt ugly. And it’s hard to keep them in one place since balls, by definition, roll around. To help with both issues, Gaiam, a cool purveyor of healthy lifestyle products, developed the Balance Ball Chair.

You needn’t have a spooky mansion, eccentric tastes or a now-it-puts-the-lotion-in-the-basket creepiness to have a secret door in your home

For as long as Spot Cool Stuff has been fantasizing about the house of our dreams — the mansion we would build if money were no object — our imaginary plans have included trap doors, secret rooms and hidden passageways.

For some time, we assumed that installing a hidden door in real life would require a hiring a general contractor who would surely shoot us a suspicious look when we explained what we wanted. But once we started doing the research we learned that there are over a dozen companies with the specialty of installing stealth entrance ways. Some even stock pre-built hidden doors you can install yourself!

Spot Cool Stuff loves books. And we love creative staircases. So it isn’t surprising that we’re drawn to cool stuff at the confluence of both.

Here’s a look at two unusual architectural designs that combine stairs with bookshelves. Has it happens, both are located in London. And neither has an owner that’s about to move their book collection to an Amazon Kindle anytime soon.

Humans, being wing-less creatures, are used to seeing our world from ground level. Even in the jet age, we are surprised when we view the planet from overhead.

Munich-based designer David Hanauer sought to take advantage of that element of surprised when he created his World Wide carpets. The floor pieces all use graphics taken from directly from Google Earth.

In a marketplace full of shinny, modern docks for MP3 players, California artist Rich Neeley went old school when designing his iPod product. Or, perhaps we should say back to school. Neeley’s iPod chargers are all made from classic, discarded books.

If your Fish Highway is not firmly secured you'll find yourself in a wet room having sushi for dinner.

Why does nearly every home aquarium have a simple round or rectangular design? As with chairs and lamps, aquariums are furnishings that can take on a variety of styles and shapes. Here are nine cool expamples:

SPOTCOOLSTUFF Design reviews furniture, cool architecture, personal accessories and a cadre of high design items with a WOW! factor. Because you shouldn't have to choose between form and function! Get our latest design posts by email: